Three Westminster Ensembles on the Grammy Awards Ballot

10/23/2017

Three Westminster Choir College of Rider University ensembles are on the preliminary ballot for the 60th Grammy Awards. The ballot is the first stage in a two-part voting process. Recordings selected to be nominated for a Grammy Award are determined by the votes cast in this first round of voting, which ends on October 29.

The Westminster ensembles included in the first-round ballot for Best Choral Performance are Westminster Kantorei, conducted by Amanda Quist, for the recording Lumina and Westminster Williamson Voices, conducted by James Jordan, for the recording Carolae: Music for Christmas. Ode to Joy, Westminster Symphonic Choir’s live recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by Mark Laycock, is on the preliminary ballot for Best Orchestral Performance.

Each of the works on Lumina is in some way related to light’s presence in our life journey: exploring faith, death, love and transcendence. The Repertoire spans the mystical 12th-century chant of Hildegard von Bingen through the Renaissance and Baroque eras, plus two Romantic-period gems based on the compositional styles of those earlier composers.

Carolae: Music for Christmas features works by James Whitbourn and Westminster faculty member Steve Pilkington. It includes the Kyrie from Whitbourn’s Missa Carolae and Pilkington’s I wonder as I wander, which are performed at Westminster’s annual Evening of Readings and Carols concert in Princeton.

The Westminster Symphonic Choir’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 was recorded live at the concert celebrating the 100th birthday of philanthropist William H. Scheide at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton. It also features Westminster alumna Leah Wool, mezzo-soprano.

The Recording Academy has announced that it received 22,030 submission entries for GRAMMY consideration in 84 categories this year. Final Grammy nominations will be announced on November 28, and final-round voting begins on December 7.

Each of the recordings is available for purchase through Amazon, iTunes and other major recording sales sites, as well as streaming on Spotify.